DIM SUM
Dim Sum (also sometimes found as Tim Sum) is one of the most famous and perennial favourite Cantonese specialities. This is not a dish, but a whole philosophy to eating.
Literally meaning little heart, these small snack-type dishes consist of countless small steamed or fried buns, pastries and dumplings served in bamboo containers. These little delicacies are usually stuffed with a variety of meat, prawns, minced vegetables and herbs.
Each serving portion of Dim Sum tends to be small. The fried items come in pairs or threes on a small plate, while the smaller steamed items such as Har Kow or Siew Mai are served in bamboo steamers in batches of four.
The tradition started in the tea houses of China where tea drinkers would congregate. It was not long before they needed something to go with their tea and so the Dim Sum culture was born. People used to sit at the Dim Sum table the whole day, reading papers, listening to their pet birds sing and discuss politics. Over the centuries, Dim Sum has evolved to become a quick and convenient lunchtime meal. Only a few decades ago, Dim Sum was only available in specialty restaurants in Singapore and would be served from trolleys. Each trolley would contain a few types of food and be wheeled around by ladies who could tell you what each dish was and what it contained.
Eating Dim Sum, also known as Yum Cha, is available at most chinese restaurants. It is usually eaten at lunchtime or as a Sunday brunch, in large, noisy restaurants. When dining, you need only order the Dim Sum from the menu, although there are still a few outlets that have the dishes on trolleys or carts; take what you like as they come by. The Yum Cha culture in Singapore is almost similar to the one found in Hong Kong but Hong Kong is better.
These days, Dim Sum has become more widespread and you can even find these food items being sold at the corner coffee shop, or even in hawker centres, to cater to people who crave the taste of Dim Sum but not able to afford restaurant-type pricing.
Basically, Dim Sum is the Chinese version of finger food or Spanish tapas. Some of the more common dishes are:
Braised Pork Ribs and Black Bean ;
Char Siew Bao (steamed barbequed pork buns) and many other types of bao(buns) ;
Char Siew So (the same filling like for the Char Siew Bao but baked in a pastry shell) ;
Chee Cheong Fun (rice sheets - steamed rice flour dough) ;
Chicken Feet (deep fried then braised) ;
Dan Tart/Egg Tart (egg custard mixture in a pastry shell) ;
Deep fried Spring Rolls ( julienned turnips and bamboo shoots plus bean sprouts and minced pork are wrapped in spring roll skins) ;
Dou Sa Bao (dumplings with a bean paste filling);
Har Kow ( prawns wrapped in a thin wheat flour skin which becomes translucent when steamed) ;
Lor Mai Fan or Bak Chang or Zong Zi (strips of pork and fat, whole horse chestnuts and sliced preserved mushrooms on top of glutinous rice, all wrapped up in lotus leaves and steamed) ;
Siew Mai ( minced pork and shrimp encased in a wanton skin and steamed) ;
Pei Dan Chook/Century EggCongee ( basic Cantonese congee that has been cooked with century egg, salted egg and shredded meat) ;
Wu Kok (diced pork and mixed vegetable in a starch-based gravy wrapped in mashed yam and deep fried) .
thanks to all the sources : Wikipedia ; SingaporeLifestyle ; YourSingapore ; MakanTime ; and all the other sites and blogs
Literally meaning little heart, these small snack-type dishes consist of countless small steamed or fried buns, pastries and dumplings served in bamboo containers. These little delicacies are usually stuffed with a variety of meat, prawns, minced vegetables and herbs.
Each serving portion of Dim Sum tends to be small. The fried items come in pairs or threes on a small plate, while the smaller steamed items such as Har Kow or Siew Mai are served in bamboo steamers in batches of four.
The tradition started in the tea houses of China where tea drinkers would congregate. It was not long before they needed something to go with their tea and so the Dim Sum culture was born. People used to sit at the Dim Sum table the whole day, reading papers, listening to their pet birds sing and discuss politics. Over the centuries, Dim Sum has evolved to become a quick and convenient lunchtime meal. Only a few decades ago, Dim Sum was only available in specialty restaurants in Singapore and would be served from trolleys. Each trolley would contain a few types of food and be wheeled around by ladies who could tell you what each dish was and what it contained.
Eating Dim Sum, also known as Yum Cha, is available at most chinese restaurants. It is usually eaten at lunchtime or as a Sunday brunch, in large, noisy restaurants. When dining, you need only order the Dim Sum from the menu, although there are still a few outlets that have the dishes on trolleys or carts; take what you like as they come by. The Yum Cha culture in Singapore is almost similar to the one found in Hong Kong but Hong Kong is better.
These days, Dim Sum has become more widespread and you can even find these food items being sold at the corner coffee shop, or even in hawker centres, to cater to people who crave the taste of Dim Sum but not able to afford restaurant-type pricing.
Basically, Dim Sum is the Chinese version of finger food or Spanish tapas. Some of the more common dishes are:
Braised Pork Ribs and Black Bean ;
Char Siew Bao (steamed barbequed pork buns) and many other types of bao(buns) ;
Char Siew So (the same filling like for the Char Siew Bao but baked in a pastry shell) ;
Chee Cheong Fun (rice sheets - steamed rice flour dough) ;
Chicken Feet (deep fried then braised) ;
Dan Tart/Egg Tart (egg custard mixture in a pastry shell) ;
Deep fried Spring Rolls ( julienned turnips and bamboo shoots plus bean sprouts and minced pork are wrapped in spring roll skins) ;
Dou Sa Bao (dumplings with a bean paste filling);
Har Kow ( prawns wrapped in a thin wheat flour skin which becomes translucent when steamed) ;
Lor Mai Fan or Bak Chang or Zong Zi (strips of pork and fat, whole horse chestnuts and sliced preserved mushrooms on top of glutinous rice, all wrapped up in lotus leaves and steamed) ;
Siew Mai ( minced pork and shrimp encased in a wanton skin and steamed) ;
Pei Dan Chook/Century EggCongee ( basic Cantonese congee that has been cooked with century egg, salted egg and shredded meat) ;
Wu Kok (diced pork and mixed vegetable in a starch-based gravy wrapped in mashed yam and deep fried) .
thanks to all the sources : Wikipedia ; SingaporeLifestyle ; YourSingapore ; MakanTime ; and all the other sites and blogs